chipolopolo

Kyle arranged everything for everyone. We smashed as many RED volunteers into a mini-bus as possible and headed towards Hero's Stadium. As we were going, it was obvious that traffic wasn't going to let up. I was in the front seats. I asked the driver how far we were. He said only 2 kilometers. I shared this knowledge with the rest of the bus and it is unanimous that we are going to walk it. 

Somehow I became the money collector. It is costing 100 kwacha for the bus. Everyone gave 5 kwacha and the due was paid. Everyone else is already out at this point and the only reason Sydney is stuck on the bus is because I am blocking her from escape. I walk in haste to catch up with everyone else. 

It was definitely at least 2 kilometers away. Little children were screaming, "ZAMIBA! MSUNGU!" on the side of the road. The whole city is excited about this game. We make it to the stadium. Kyle bought out all the ticket the place he went and was still short for some people. I didn't get him money fast enough and so, I was one of those people. 

We need tickets. Alice is spearheading this. She heads off in the direction of the ticket booth. We all follow in line like ducklings. There is a ruckus and people start running one direction. Aretha tells us that if people start running at each other, we better start running the other direction. I agreed. 

The whole situation is crazy. The ticket booth is not selling tickets. People want tickets and can't get them. Of course everyone goes to the next logical step, Zambians are jumping over the walls of the compound and broke down a barrier and started dashing into the stadium. It is madness. This is our opportunity to slip right in. 

Adam and I head for a crowd of people to slip in but of course we find the only crowd that actually has tickets. We slink right back out of the crowd. We need a different entrance route. 

A man notices us and asks if we need tickets. We reply that we do not have any. He says that he can give us some for 100 kwacha each. We say that is too much. Then he goes down to 25 kwacha each. 

After a few seconds his friend comes by. His friend asks if he can help. The friend directs us to a solider. I told the solider about how we came with all intentions of buying a ticket but now that is impossible.... yadda, yadda. We are in. Free! I grabbed the only 2 other PCVs in site and we headed to watch the game. A miracle! 

It was awesome. My friend Leah once said, "When the Olympics come on, I have no shame. I will rock a bald eagle shirt and become the next level of patriotic." I felt the same way about Zambia this night. I had so much pride. Zambia is obviously the better team than Gabon. It was so awesome to watch the game and feed off the energy of all the other locals. 

Adam and I left early to miss the rush and crowds. It was incredible to be there. I hope in my service to have another chance to go to a game. The president was even there last night! 

I forgot to mention that Zambia is having rolling power outages. The power went out twice during the game. It was a classic Zambian moment.

I need to get myself a Chipolopolo jersey.